Chapter 46: Chapter 46

25 YEARS LATER

“Amanda, where are you?”

Paris King’s voice rang through their house as she searched door after door for her youngest daughter. If anyone had told her having a female child would be this stressful, she would have…well, she wouldn’t have decided to give Amandine away after the scan because despite Amandine’s attempts at making her believe otherwise, Paris thought she was the sweetest thing in the world.

“Amanda, come on!”

Paris tried again but it was either her seventeen-year-old daughter was suddenly deaf – which was kind of hard to believe thanks to her advanced hearing – or she was purposely ignoring her mother. Paris could have bet all her money that it was the latter.

After minutes upon minutes of what appeared to be a futile search, she found Amandine sitting in the garden. Even though she had successfully managed to wipe her tears away once she noticed her mother coming, her eyes were still red and was a clear giveaway that she had been crying. What Paris couldn’t understand was why.

Paris took a deep breath and sat, cross-legged, beside her daughter, nudging her slightly with her shoulder. “So, tell me. What’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing, Mama,” she replied but even a blind man could tell that she was lying.

“Mon minou, I know you and I know that something is bothering you. Please, tell me.”

Amandine bit her lip not sure of whether or not she should say what had bothered her but looking into her mother’s eyes, trust filled her heart and she began to speak. “There’s this boy at school…”

Paris knew where this was going and she had prepared herself for the moment all her life but something in her felt like if she messed this up, she’d watch her daughter become more of who she had been that she hated.

“Go on,” Paris willed herself to say but it came out more as a strangled sound that Amandine still took as an incentive to continue.

Amandine raked her hands through her hair and cupped her face with her hands. “There’s this boy in school that I really liked and I thought he liked me too because I felt the sparks, you know, and he told me how much I meant to him. He even asked me out and I was so happy but less than two hours after our relationship started, I saw him kissing Tanya

“Apparently, he actually liked her and didn’t want to make me feel bad so he was just pity dating me. We broke up making an embarrassing scene for me and they are dating now. I feel like I was such a fool for thinking he would ever like me. I don’t deserve love, anyway.

“I mean, have you seen me? I keep wondering how someone as beautiful as you gave birth to an ogre like me. It doesn’t help that Didier and Pierre are like male angels.”

“Stop that, minou. After all these years, do you still believe people’s lies that you are ugly?” Amandine turned away, refusing to reply but that the answer Paris needed to continue. “I will never lie to you and I know that you are beautiful. If no one tells you that or makes you think otherwise, it’s just a sign of their jealousy.

“When I named you Amandine, I wasn’t hallucinating. You deserve to be loved, minou, and you have to believe that with all your heart.”

Amandine turned back to her mother with a sad smile and said, “It sure doesn’t feel like that. Love isn’t for me.”

Paris took a deep breath in and sighed. “You know, before I got married to your father, I had the most stupid idea in my mind that I had to sacrifice everything so a high school crush could grow into love. I was stupid to believe that if this guy didn’t love me then love wasn’t for me. What I failed to realize is that love is beyond what we think it is. What I was looking for, was always there.

“I kept looking for love in all the wrong places and he was just there smiling at me, patiently waiting for the day I would see him for who he truly was and accept him that way. Love didn't give up on me. He didn't try to run to someone else. He had faith that I would find my way to him but I didn't. And even when I didn't, he helped me look for love. He searched with me day and night and provided comfort when I would cry that love didn't exist.

“Love stayed. And with time, I began to appreciate all love was doing for me. I saw how he would stay awake until I slept. I saw how he smiled when I smiled and cried when I cried. I saw how he supported me even when I didn't have the courage to do things on my own. He was just there when I needed him and I was beginning to see it. Love was your father.

“You are looking for love in the wrong place and at the wrong time, minou. When love comes, it’s going to be the least thing you expect. Just remember that love isn't always what you want. Love will always be what you need.”

Amandine pulled her mother into a hug and smiled. “Thank you, mere. This means a lot to me.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Paris said and released her daughter from the hug. “Okay, run to your room right now and get that mess cleaned up.”

“Yes, mama,” Amandine said, standing up and running off to her room.

Paris smiled as she watched her go and decided to sit down in the garden for a few more minutes before going back to being a mother again.

“Nice speech,” an all too familiar voice whispered in her ear and she leaned into his body. “I’m happy I cam home late. Wouldn’t want to be involved when she’s all emotional. She throws a mean punch already.”

Paris burst into laughter immediately. “I wonder where she got it from.”

Leon didn’t reply, placed his hand on her back, and began to lightly trace I love you over and over again on it. At first, she didn’t think that was what he was doing until she focused her mind on following his traces.

“I love you too,” she whispered.

He walked up until he was in front of her, cupped her face, studying it intently for a minute, before pulling her in a long kiss that was filled with love. No kiss she’d ever had could compare with Leon’s kisses and she was convinced in her heart that she would always be addicted to his kisses.

In the end, she didn’t get all her heart’s desires that had been borne out of idealism caused by movies. She didn’t get the man she’d dreamed of being with and she didn’t get the perfect love story but what she had was enough.

The moral of this story is that, the matter of love isn’t all roses like we thought and even when it did seem like roses, we simply had to watch out for the thorns it came with. Also, even if you don’t get what you want, you can still have a happy ending. All you need to do is make it happen.